Japanese Woodblock Prints (1800 - 1868)
By the 19th century, Japanese woodblock prints achieved extraordinary popularity. While the shogunate issued a battery of censorship reforms throughout the 1800s, artists ignored and evaded restrictions with images of indulgent beauties and vibrant kabuki actors. As constraints tightened in the 1840s, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) became earthier in prints by Eizan and Eisen, while kabuki actors persevered in the work of Kunisada (aka Toyokuni III). During this period, ukiyo-e artists also added landscapes, warriors, ghosts and scenes of everyday life to their oeuvre. Artists such as Hokusai and Hiroshige indulged a national wanderlust through Meisho-e or “famous place pictures,” while Kuniyoshi championed musha-e, a genre of warrior and legendary pictures.
5 Products
Kuniyoshi
Sumo Wrestlers Shiranui Dakuemon (center left), Tsurugizan Taniemon (center right), with Referee Shikimori Inosuke (left) and Judge Retired Wrestler Miyagino (right)
JP-104226
Toyokuni III
Sumo Wrestlers on the Ring for Entering Ceremony
JP1-75962
Kunisada
The Great Sumo Wrestling between Momotaro and Kaidomaru
JP-104233
Hidematsu
The Great Kanjin Sumo: High Ranking Sumo Wrestlers Line Up Towards the Ring
JP-94558